Marjolet

Marjolet is a quick, elegant
game for two played in southwest France. After this we provide
the rules for Bezique, the parent to Pinochle and one of the
most enduringly popular card games. Bezique is like a two-deck
Marjolet. Then we present Bezique variants: Polish, Rubicon, and
Chinese Bezique.

Goal of the Game

To win a hand by
scoring the most points. You score by taking Aces and Tens in
tricks (called brisques), and by declaring melds
(sets of matched cards).

To win a game across hands by being the first to make
500 or more points.

The Deck and the Deal

The game uses the 32-card
“French deck.” Create it by removing all cards below the 7 from
a standard 52-card deck. The remaining 32 cards rank-- A,
10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7. Note that the 10 is the second-highest
card, ranking right below the Ace.

Deal each player 6 cards. Turn one card up and lay it next to
the remaining part of the deck (the stock). The
turned-up card dictates the Trump suit for the hand.

The Play

The non-dealer leads a card to
the first trick. His opponent can play any card (you are
not required to follow suit). The trick is won by the higher
card of the suit led, or by a trump to any non-trump lead.

The winner of the trick may declare one or more melds if he
cares to. He then takes the top card of the stock into his
hand, and his opponent takes the next card. The trick winner
then leads any card to the next trick. In this manner, the
two opponents play cards to tricks, declare melds, and draw
through the entire deck.

Honor Melds

Winning a trick allows a player
to declare any of these melds

---Meld---

---Points---

Four
Aces

100

Four
Kings

80

Four
Queens

60

Four
Jacks

40

King
& Queen of Trump suit (Trump
Marriage)

40

King
& Queen of same non-trump suit
(Common Marriage)

20

Trump
Jack & Trump Queen

40

Trump
Jack and any non-Trump Queen

20

Melds are placed
face-up in front of the player who declares them. These
face-up cards may later be used by that player just like
the cards in his hand (played to tricks when desired).

A melded card can be used in other melds as well. For
example, a Queen might be melded with a King of the same
suit in a Marriage, then melded a second time later as
part of a Trump-Jack-plus-Queen combination.

The trump Jack (called the Marjolet) may be
re-melded to different Queens.

The Seven of Trump (the Dix)

The seven of trump, or
the dix, is special. If the dealer turns it up
as the trump card when dealing, he scores 10 points. If
a player has the dix in his hand, after winning a trick,
he may exchange it for the turn-up trump. The player
scores 10 points for the exchange. Or if he does not
exchange, he scores 10 points when playing the dix to a
trick (it does not matter whether or not he wins the
trick).

The “Close” -- and More on Scoring--

Eventually, one player
draws the last face-down card from the stock, and his
opponent takes the turn-up trump. The deck from
which to draw is now exhausted or closed. Both
players now take any of their melded cards on the table
up into their hands

Now the rules of trick-play change. For these last six
tricks, you must follow the suit led, if possible, and
win the trick if possible. If you can not follow suit,
you must trump if possible (if you can not trump, you
may play any card). Players may not make declarations
after closing.

The winner of the last trick scores 10 points. Should
either player win all six tricks after closing, he wins
50 points. Also, the winner of the 10th trick in the
hand scores 10 points. Some play that the person who
draws the final card from stock (the turn-up card),
scores 10 points.

After the hand ends, both players count their Aces and
10’s. They score 10 points for each.

Scoring Summary

Here is a scoring
summary for all points outside of the honor melds

---Event---

---Points---

Dealer turns up
a seven for the trump card

10

Seven of trumps
(dix) played to trick or exchanged for
the turn-up

10

Winning the
10th trick in the hand

10

Winning the
last trick

10

Winning all six
final tricks

50

Each Ace taken
in tricks (Brisque)

10

Each 10 taken
in tricks (Brisque)

10

Strategy

Win tricks for two
purposes in this game--

To score by taking
Aces and 10’s in tricks

To enable you to
declare melds

Part of the tension in the game is the balance between
the cards you play to tricks, versus those you keep in
hand in hopes of making melds. Ideally you assemble
meldable cards in hand while playing low cards to
tricks, yet keeping a “trick winner” in hand for when
needed.

Another tension is between winning Aces and 10’s in
tricks, versus casting them off on occasion to develop
melds. In many hands, one player scores more in melds
while his opponent scores more in brisques (Aces
and 10’s).

Be flexible in the melds you chase. A good memory for
what cards have been played is essential.

More Information

The only book in English that covers Marjolet is Oxford A-Z of Card Games by David Parlett. This is
the first write-up of this game on the web in English
and it conforms to Parlett.

Bezique

Bezique is an expanded
version of Marjolet
(above). It can be played with two, four, six, or even eight
decks. Each variant features an expanded and ever more
complex set of melds. Here we describe the classic -- Bezique for
two, played with two 32-card French decks.

To keep things simple (and reward your patience for reading the above
Marjolet rules), we list only the differences between Bezique and
Marjolet rules here.

The Deck and Deal

Use two 32-card French
decks. So you will have a duplicate set of cards, Ace down
to 7. Deal eight cards to each of the players
(instead of the six each dealt in Marjolet).

A game across hands in two-deck Bezique is 1000 points
(not 500 as in Marjolet).

The Play

The rules of trick-taking are
the same as in Marjolet. One new situation may come up. If two
identical cards are played to a trick, the first card played
wins the trick.

Scoring Summary

This chart summarizes Bezique
scoring. The main differences from Marjolet are:

You score 250 points for a Sequence
(A-10-K-Q-J) in the trump suit.

There is no Marjolet.
Instead, the Bezique is the unique combination of the Queen of Spades and the Jack
of Diamonds. This scores 40 points. The Double Bezique (both
Queens of Spades and both Jacks of Diamonds) scores 500 points.

There is no special bonus for
winning the eight tricks after closing the deck, nor do you score 10 points for
winning the 10th trick in the hand.

You can declare only one meld after
winning a trick. No declarations are allowed after the Close.

A card can participate in different melds in different turns.
However, you can only score a second time for a card when you
place it into a different kind of meld. Example- if diamonds are
the trump suit, you could score a Queen of Diamonds together
with a King of Diamonds in one turn for a Trump Marriage.
After winning another trick, you could add the Ace, 10, and Jack
of Diamonds to score the lot for a Trump Sequence.
But you could not just add a different King of Diamonds to the
Queen to score a second time for another Marriage.

---Meld
or Scoring Event---

---Called---

---Points---

Any 4 Aces

100

Any 4 Kings

80

Any 4 Queens

60

Any 4 Jacks

40

King &
Queen of Trump suit

Trump Marriage

40

King &
Queen of same non-trump suit

Common Marriage

20

Queen of Spades
and Jack of Diamonds

Bezique

40

Both Spade
Queens & Diamond Jacks

Double Bezique

500

A-10-K-Q-J of
Trumps

Trump Sequence

250

Seven of trumps
played --or---

The Dix

10

Seven of trumps
declared

The Dix

10

Each Ace or 10
taken in tricks

Brisques

10

Winning the
last trick

10

Strategy

As with Marjolet, there
is tension between winning Brisques and scoring melds.
The player who wins in one category tends to lose in the
other. There is no question that melds offer the
greatest rewards.

Flexibility in the melds you pursue and a good memory
count for much in Bezique. No mistake is worse than
seeking a card for a meld that is no longer available.
You’ll have to keep track of more cards than in Marjolet
-- there are eight of each rank.

It's always shrewd to
use a scoring card in more than a single meld, if
possible. For example, use an ace in a set of 4 Aces,
then later reuse the trump ace in a Trump Sequence.

Rule Variations

Rules about the Dix vary in different sources. Some
allow declaring more than one meld per turn while still
scoring but one per turn.

More Information

All comprehensive rule books for card games include
Bezique. Our favorite is the book Oxford A-Z of Card Games by David Parlett.

Polish Bezique

Here’s a wild twist on Bezique
that only changes a single rule. All rules are the same as for
Bezique above,
except that melds are created solely from cards you capture in
tricks.

Leave tricks face-up on the table as you win them. After every
trick, you may score either one or two melds. You create these
melds by using the two new cards you have won, added to the other
cards you’ve previously won in tricks. Each of the two new cards
you have won can participate in only one meld... this is
why you can declare two melds after winning a trick.

You can continue to meld after the Close (unlike standard Bezique
rules). Some books state that each card can only be used in one
meld in Polish Bezique.

Rubicon
Bezique

Rubicon (or Japanese Bezique) is like standard Bezique described above except that you play with 128 cards (4 packs
of 32 cards). The only rule differences are--

Deal each player 9 cards (instead of 8)

The trump suit is dictated by the suit of the first marriage or
sequence scored

The seven of trumps (dix) has no special value.

The last trick is worth 50 points (rather than 10)

Non-trump sequence scores 150 points (A-10-K-Q-J).

You score 50 points for carte blanche if you are dealt
no court cards. You can re-score this each time you draw without fetching a court card.

After melding to the table, you can move a card out of that
meld (to a trick or another meld), then re-create that meld with a replacement
card. Example-- declare a trump sequence in hearts, next turn move the king from that sequence to
another meld or play it to a trick, then play another king into the meld and score again for
the trump sequence

Two marriages of the same suit can be considered rearranged to
form two more marriages.

Standard rules score one bezique at 40 points, two beziques at
500 points, three beziques at 1,500 points, and four beziques at
4,500 points.

Each deal is a complete game. Players total their points and
round down to the nearest 100. Winner gains 500 points plus the difference between
players’ scores. A player is “rubiconed” if fails to score 1000 points. In this case the
winner scores 1000 points plus the sum of both scores. Brisiques (Aces and 10’s taken in tricks) are only
counted in case of ties or to prevent a rubicon.

A player is rubiconed if he fails to score 3,000 points.
The rubicon bonus is 1,000 points.

Strategy

This game is much longer than standard or Rubicon Bezique (you’re
drawing through a much bigger deck). Since you can “re-declare” a
meld multiple times simply be replacing a single card within it,
there is a premium on obtaining high-scoring melds early in the
game and re-scoring them multiple times. Trump sequences work
well, especially if you can overlap their suit with beziques or a
4-of-a-kind. Another strategy is to obtain a 4-of-a-kind
(preferably in Aces), re-score it many times, and hope to convert
it to 4-of-a-kind in trumps (scored extra). Note that 10’s have a
new-found value (4-of-a-kind in trump 10’s scores 900 points), and
that while there is scoring for triple and quadruple beziques,
there is no score specifically for quintuple or sextuple beziques.